Shoe-lacer.



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'PATENTBD AUG. 7, 1906; R. M. MILES & B. YOUNG.

SHOE LAGER.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 2, 1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT REUBEN M. MILES AND ERNEST YOUNG, OFHAVERHILL, MASSA- OHUSETTS. i i i SHOE-LASER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 7, 1906.

Application filed February 2, 1905. Serial No. 243,786.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, REUBEN M. MILES and ERNEST YOUNG, of Haverhill, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a'n Improvement in Shoe- Lacers, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to that class of devices known as lacers, which are em loyed for temporarily holding closed the acingopening of a shoe during the process of manufacture.

The invention more particularly relates to a lacer which is adapted to engage a single pair of eyelets only.

In the process of manufacturing McKaysewed shoes, in which a horn is inserted in the shoe during-the process of sewing, it often happens that the vamp is torn or thestitches are ripped at the end of the lacing-opening, so that it is desirable to secure the opening temporarily during the 1process of sewing in such a manner that the s 0e will not be injured at this point. Moreover, if a shoe is not held in shape at the lacing-opening while it is being sewed the distortion is likely to become permanent.

When the upper is not stretched over a last, there is nearly as much tendency to push the laced edges of the quarter together as there is to draw them apart, particularly while the shoe is being McKay-sewed, and while temporary lacing devices have been produced which hold the opening in the shoe together satisfactorily while a last is in the shoe, yet these devices are very liable to become disengaged when the last has been removed.

The object of our invention is to provide a temporary lacer for a single pair of eyelets which is adapted to be applied readily to the shoe and to be removed as readily, which will hold the eyeleted portions of the shoe securely together, and which will not become accidentally disconnected therefrom under ordinary conditions, even though the last has been removed from the shoe. We accomplish this object by means shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Flgure 1 illustrates a lacer made according to our invention and applied to a shoe. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the lacer in position in a shoe. Fig. 3 is a perspective view thereof; Fig. 4 is a side view of a modified form of the invention, and Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate different positions of the lacer while being inserted.

The lacer consists of a single continuous stiff wire bent to form an arched middle portion or cross-bar a and two semicircular portions or main eyelet-holding loops 1) 1), Op Said positely disposed at each end thereof. loops are formed at the upper or convex'side of the bar a, and the distance between the inner sides of said loops is approximately the same as the thickness of an ordinary eyelet; The opposite side of each loop b'from bar a is approximately parallel to the adjacent por t1on of said bar, though they preferably di vergcp slightly therefrom'as they extend towar each other and are extended and reversely curved to provlde independent semi circular supplcmentalloo'ps c, which are of practically the same diameter as themain oops b, each supplemental loop being disposed oppositely to the adjacent main loop, the closed ends of the supplementalloops be ing nearer together than the closed ends'of the main loops. The opposite sides of loo is c from loops I) extend approximately parallel to bar 0,, though preferably slightly divergently therefrom, tions thereof are each preferably, though not necessarily, provided with an upturned end or toe d, as shown in Fig. 4.

The lacer may be conveniently-inserted in several ways; but the so far as we are aware, is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. According to this method the workman grasps one end of the lacer and passes the end portion (1 at the other end of the lacer through the eyelet nearest to him. (See full line position, Fig. 5.) He then swings the lacer across the shoe-opening to positions 2 and 3 successively until the loop 0 has been passed through the eyelet, and then he swings it back to position 4 of Fig. 6 and passes the bar a, through the eyelet to osition 5. Then he turns up the farther e ge portion of the quarter slightly or presses the nearer portion downward with the lacer and passes the end 01 (see position 6) and then-loop 0 through the opposite eyelet. Then he draws back the lacer, so that both eyelets will be located in the end of loops 6, as in full lines in Fig. 2. In this position the lacer effectively prevents the meeting portions of the and theextrem'e end pormost convenient way,

lo the eyelet is drawn back into loop I).

The lacer may be readily removed bymoving it to the several positions above described in the reverse order but as the edges of the quarter are practically never moved so as to cause the lacer to assume such successive positions it will not become disconnected from the shoe with the ordinary handling incident to McKay-sewing and other Work which is performed on the shoe after the last is removed.

The upturned ends d of the lacer materially assist the ready insertion of the end portions (1 in the eyelet while the lacer is being applied.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A shoelacer consisting of a cross-bar having a pair of oppositely-disposed main 3o eyelet-holding loops connected to opposite ends of said bar and disposed at one side thereof, the opposite sides of each loop from the bar being extended convergently and then divergently to provide a supplemental retaining-loop oppositely disposed to and adapted to receive the eyelets independently of the adj acent main loop, substantially as described.

2. A shoelacer consisting of a crossbar having a pair of oppositely-disposed main eyelet-holding loops connected to opposite ends of said bar and disposed at one side thereof, the opposite sides of each loop from the bar being extended to provide a supplemental retaining-loop at its end, disposed 0pj positely to and with its sides in approximate parallelism with the adjacent main loop, substantially as described.

3. A shoelacer consisting of a cross-bar having a pair of oppositely-disposed main eylet-holding loops connected to opposite ends of said bar and disposed at one side thereof, the opposite sides of each loop from the bar being extended to provide a supplemental retaining-loop oppositely disposed to,

and adapted to receive the eyelets independently of the adjacent main loop, the opposite side portions of said supplementalloops from said bar having their end portions extending divergently therefrom, substantially as described.

4. A shoelacer consisting of a cross-bar extended reversely on itself at each end to form a pair of oppositely-disposed main eyelet-holding loops opening toward each other, and a pair of supplemental retaining-loops oppositely disposed to each other and each oppositely disposed to the adjacent main loop and adapted to receive the eyelets independently thereof, the closed ends of said supplemental loops being nearer together than are the closed ends of said main loops, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

REUBEN M. MILES. ERNEST YOUNG.

Witnesses:

L. H. HARRIMAN, H. B. DAVIS. 

